Water in Nepal

October 01, 2009 | Pulitzer Center

William Wheeler and Anna-Katarina Graavgard, for the Pulitzer Center

In Kathmndu, the century-old water distribution network is tasked with serving a population over one million people. The result is leakages, frequent contamination and inefficiency. Image by Anna-Katarina Gravgaard. Nepal, 2009.

Even as the network deteriorates, the population is rapidly growing, especially in urban areas. In 2004, 16 percent of Nepal’s 25 million residents were urban. By 2021, the water and sanitation organization NGO Forum estimates, the population will be 34 million with 27 percent in urban areas. Image by William Wheeler. Nepal, 2009.

A fetid stretch of the polluted Bagmati River in Kathmandu. Image by William Wheeler. Nepal, 2009.

Residents of a shantytown sifting through garbage at the river bank. Image by Anna-Katarina Gravgaard. Nepal, 2009.

A woman cleans the street in front of her shop in a tourist district. Image by William Wheeler. Nepal, 2009.

Workers dig a sewer line through the city. Image by William Wheeler. Nepal, 2009.

Many households are still without a water connection. In those with piped water delivery, the supply is often intermittent and water pressure is weak. Those who can afford ground pumps soak up the available water to the disadvantage of their poorer neighbors. Image by Anna-Katarina Gravgaard. Nepal, 2009.

During the dry season, some estimates put the delivery output of the water system at less than half of total demand. Image by William Wheeler. Nepal, 2009.

A boy checks the water tank on his rooftop in Kathmandu. Image by William Wheeler. Nepal, 2009.

A bike fitted for carrying water. Image by William Wheeler. Nepal, 2009.

Kids bathing in a river. Image by William Wheeler. Nepal, 2009.

Nepal is awash with water during the wet season. But for most of the year life in Kathmandu-- a city already choked by smog, and growing more polluted with the influx of rural Nepalis each year-- is strained by the circumstances of an ageing and inadequate water distribution network hobbled by political instability. Photos of life in the Himalaya's dirtiest city.